From the heart

The Fusion5 Community Funding Programme was formed in 2014 to support worthwhile causes nominated by our people. While the causes are wide and varied, all are near and dear to our hearts.

Our latest round of funding has provided local support for:

Lewis Clareburt - a highly promising 18-year-old New Zealand swimmer. Lewis competed in the 2017 Youth Commonwealth Games and collected 7 medals, including several golds, and broke NZ age group records.

Leukaemia Foundation - Australia's peak body for blood cancer, funding research. The Foundation provides free support services to people with leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma and related blood disorders, and their families.

Melbourne String Ensemble - a dynamic and exciting string orchestra comprised of primary and secondary school students. It aims to provide an excellent ensemble and chamber music education while giving valuable performance opportunities.

Our giving also extends to international causes. We recently provided support to help baby rhinos who have been orphaned through the greed of poachers. Made of the same protein as our hair and fingernails, rhino are being killed for their horns to be sold on the black market - by weight for as much as gold - and used for ornamental or traditional medicinal purposes. Rhino poaching has now reached a crisis point in Africa (1,215 killed in 2014 compared to just 13 in 2007) and if the killing continues at this rate, rhino deaths will start to overtake rhino births in 2016-2018, meaning they could go extinct in the very near future.

Sven Martin, Executive Director of Fusion5, was lucky enough to visit the new baby rhino orphanage started by Rhino Revolution when he was in South Africa in December 2016. After seeingfirst-hand the hard work and costs that go into rescuing and managing the trauma of baby rhinos, we wanted to help Rhino Revaluation raise awareness in our part of the world. We hope our donation will encourage other companies in our region get behind the cause.

Rhino Revolution - started by the concerned citizens of Hoedspruit, including respected rhino conservationists and private nature reserve owners, who came together to try and reduce the escalating poaching crisis in this critically important rhino conservation area. What started as a community-based action group is now an internationally recognised NPO proudly supporting rhino conservation through rigorous anti-poaching activities, conservation awareness programmes and now the provision of a world class rhino orphanage. Donations can be made here, and you can also 'adopt a baby rhino' here.